Housekeeping

Housekeeping: being environmentally friendly in the use of cleaning materials, in the consumption of energy, in waste disposal, use of water and paper, and building maintenance etc.

This can apply as much to households as to the care of churches (see Modules 7 and 10 on http://www.ecocongregation.org/englandwales)

There are six sections below:

Energy use – ideas on saving energy

Energy supply – how your supply can be more environmentally friendly

Chemicals and cleaning – how not to pollute

Re-cycling, waste and reducing purchasing

Water saving

Sustainable buildings – their design and maintenance

Energy use

• CEL are running a major campaign on energy called 'Operation Noah' www.christian-ecology.org.uk/noah/index.htm (lots of ideas and resources)
• Energy use is a key issue. Firstly, look to reduce consumption. An audit is a key tool in this. For an energy audit: www.est.org.uk
• Heat the church or hall as little as you need. It is better to have a powerful system that can heat the church in half an hour rather than waste lots of heat overnight with a poor system.
• Would a thermostat work? And what temperature does it really need to be set at? (can people be expected to keep their coats on and still feel warm?)
• Can you use energy efficient light bulbs? (right) For a supplier see http://www.lowenergyworld.com/
• Can you insulate the building more? Can you lose less heat each time the door is opened?
• Use the ‘Cool Church Kit’ from CEL http://www.christian-ecology.org.uk/coolchurch/index.htm
• For a way to offset your CO2 emissions, look at http://www.co2.org/

Energy supply

• Energy supply. Electricity is generated in lots of different ways, none of which are really environmentally friendly, but some ways are worse than others. Friends of the Earth do a Green Energy League Table on their website www.foe.co.uk  
• There is a special church energy site that encourages green supply http://www.cepg.co.uk/index.php
• For general information on energy see http://www.nef.org.uk/greenenergy/index.htm
• The Centre for Alternative Technology has lots of information http://www.cat.org.uk/index.tmpl
• For homes (and perhaps church halls) there is a mini-wind-generator Home Power The inventors of Windsave roof mounted. At a cost of around £1000 plus installation the inventors claim that customers can expect to save up to a third of their annual bill. Available through British Gas. www.windsave.com  0141 353 6841
• For home-level generation www.micropower.co.uk

Chemicals and cleaning

• Many modern cleaning materials contain chemicals that harm the environment (especially chlorine and phosphorus) and may damage our health. There are ranges like Ecover that should be better, or you can use bicarbonate of soda and lemon juice or vinegar for many cleaning tasks.
• Try www.naturalcollection.com  for all sorts of environmentally friendly products.
• Investigate http://www.naturalmatters.net/ for natural products
• Go for greener computers: e.g. flat screens are better than the older TV-like monitors; buy a reconditioned machine when you do not need the latest level of power; turn them off when not in use

Re-cycling, waste and reducing purchasing

• Churches were the first great recyclers - the church jumble sale! Consider rebranding this as a 'Recycling Party' (strictly it is re-use rather than re-cycling, but that is even better). Cambridgeshire Community Reuse and Recycling Network is a good place to start
• For re-cycling look at http://www.recyclenow.com/
• But also buy products made from re-cycled materials. One obvious product is paper.
• www.green-works.co.uk do low-cost, re-used furniture for charities
• Don’t buy disposables – wash things up instead
• Consider how much paper really needs to be used, e.g. service sheets and pew leaflets
• Buy recycled paper

Water saving

• Water use is a big issue. Every time we flush the toilet 7.5-9.5litres of high quality drinking water goes down the drain.
• Some water can be collected using rain water: www.ukrha.org
• A water meter is a responsible thing to install
• Check for leakages and dripping taps regularly; and then repair them
• Fit water-minimising systems to taps, cisterns and urinals

Sustainable buildings

Too many buildings are unsustainable

• 50% of world’s resources used in construction
• 50% of waste produced by construction
• Most travel is to/from buildings
• Most use of other resources occurs in buildings, e.g. 50% of water is used in buildings

As well as theological there are pragmatic reasons for making buildings more sustainable

• Last longer and be cheaper to maintain
• Healthier for people
• Increasing regulatory requirements
• Reinvigoration of architectural aesthetics
• Good public image

Sustainable Development has three aspects: